


Strip--The Boys Lose Control Job

by crayonbreakygal



Category: Leverage
Genre: Bondage, Drama, F/M, Humiliation, Multi, OT3, Rescue, Rough Sex, kinkiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:08:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22079710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crayonbreakygal/pseuds/crayonbreakygal
Summary: A mark humiliates the men of the team and explains some "truths" as she holds a gun on them.
Relationships: Alec Hardison/Eliot Spencer, Alec Hardison/Parker, Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer, Sophie Devereaux/Nathan Ford
Comments: 8
Kudos: 99





	Strip--The Boys Lose Control Job

Strip—The Boys Lose Control Job

Takes place season four

“Strip.”

“What?”

“No way.”

Eliot growled low in his throat. 

The woman holding the gun fired it up and to her left, making Hardison jump.

“Strip or the next person gets winged. And you won’t know where until I fire.”

Hardison’s eyes went wide with fear.

“You wanna tell us why?”

Nate could list several reasons why their mark would want to humiliate them. And possibly kill them and leave their bodies at the side of the road or a ditch. They had planned this job down to a T until plan D turned into plan M (sorry Hardison), and ultimately veered into plan Z territory too fast. It was either cooperate or end up with a wound to some vital part. She didn’t look like she was all that choosy.

“You ruined it all. I had people eating out of my hands. Millions of dollars just sitting there. I lived a good life.”

“By swindling people,” Hardison mumbled, but the mark heard.

“They deserved it. Each and every one of them.”

As usual. The evil speech of evil. They always believed they were in the right on some sort of plane of existence. She was no different.

“Just tie us up. You have enough lead time to disappear,” Eliot pointed out.

“What? And not at least get some payback? The three of you, just standing there, thinking that you’ve won? Who has the upper hand now?”

Nate thought to himself. Yes, she had the upper hand right at that moment. It wouldn’t last. She’d slip up eventually, even if she did get away. This was all about revenge.

“If you leave now…”

“Strip.”

The mark was in her early 40s, at the top of her game. Nate never understood why anyone would risk everything by doing what she did. She could have had plenty of money to live on, to invest, to live a good life. Only she wanted more and more. The perfect house, the perfect business, the perfect body, the perfect life. And she had to go about getting it by nefarious means.

“Humiliating you? There is so much more to this than you think.”

Nate glanced over at Eliot, hoping that he had a plan to get them out of this. By his stance and his body language, Nate didn’t know what the play was. Until Eliot started to take off his shirt.

“And if we strip, what will you do then? The clock is ticking.”

Leave it to Eliot to point out the obvious.

Nate was sure that Parker and Sophie would turn up at some point, but when he wasn’t sure. Without the comms or any cell phones or any kind of electronics, it made a rescue very difficult. Besides, their expert in finding people was standing a mere foot next to him. Nate swallowed his pride and started to slide his tie off.

“Ok, pretty boy. Get started,” the mark pointed to Hardison.

“Me? Pretty boy?” Hardison shook his head no.

Eliot smirked a bit but kept taking his clothes off very slowly. Now would be a great time for Parker and Sophie to show up. Only they didn’t.

“Kick everything you take off in front of you. Come on. Time’s a-wasting.”

Nate had the most clothes on since he had on a suit. Hardison had on one of his character t-shirts, a scarf, jacket, jeans, and tennis shoes. Eliot had on a jacket, a long-sleeved Henley and jeans along with his boots. As Nate slowly unbuttoned his button-down dress shirt, he glanced at both of them. Hardison had a defiant look on his face, looking straight ahead as he angrily pulled at what he still had on. Eliot’s face looked serene, with no emotion showing. His movements were fluid like he was at home getting ready for a shower. Nate kept fumbling at the buttons, knowing that once he was down to his boxers, shit was really going to get real. Standing back up slowly after tossing his shoes and socks along with his trousers, he stood nervously as the other two stood next to him, down to their last article of clothing too.

“My, my. Just the same under all those clothes. You’re just like everyone else out there now that you’ve stripped down. But you see, I’m better than you.”

“Had more botox than we’ve had.”

Hardison really did need to learn when not to snark back at the mark when she was holding you hostage with a gun pointed at you, ready to fire at the least provocation.

“Finish the job.”

Dammit, Nate thought. He was hoping she’d stop right here. Not that he was embarrassed by what shape he was in (just a little) or what he looked like without clothes (more than a little).

“Son of a bitch,” Hardison whispered as he bent down to shrug out of his underwear.

Eliot had quickly dropped what he had on, tossing them toward her, landing at her feet. Nate yanked his off angrily. Hardison had taken to covering up vital parts, nervously shifting from one foot to another.

“Oh, no. Pretty boy. Hands behind your back.”

Hardison was starting to hyperventilate just a little but it was dark where they were, the only light right above the mark’s head, so Nate hoped it was just he was breathing more heavily than usual. Nate certainly knew he was starting to blush, face getting hotter and hotter by the minute. Eliot stood ramrod straight, hands behind his back like he was standing at attention military style. The mark still stood too far away for Eliot to make any move toward her without getting shot. Nate tried to copy what Eliot was doing, glaring at the mark while doing it.

“Humiliating, isn’t it? To lose everything. To stand there, exposed for all to see. That’s what you’ve done to me.”

“You did this to yourself,” Nate pointed out.

“No. The three of you ruined me.”

Hopefully, she would tire of pointing that gun directly at them so Eliot could make a move. Only she didn’t seem to be on the verge of tiring at all. 

“I wonder how the three of you like it?”

“Like it?” Hardison swallowed.

Oh crap, where was she going with this?

“I bet pretty boy is a virgin.”

“What? You…”

“He stutters, wants to make sure his friends think he’s been around the block a few times. I wonder why. Oh, and military man. I bet you’ve been around the block plenty of times, both ways. Am I right?”

Eliot still stood ramrod straight, not responding to her taunts.

“And you?” She pointed directly at Nate now. “Like it rough?”

“Wanna find out?” he shot back.

“I bet you also like to watch.”

Nate took his mind to places where cold water and awful things happened to him so that his body would not respond.

“You’re sick,” Hardison commented.

“Seems like pretty boy likes what I’m talking about.”

Hardison tensed up, muscles taut on his arms. Nate wanted to tell him to ignore what she was saying, but he wouldn’t give her any more ammunition.

“Oh, military man. You seem to be unflappable. I wonder what your kink is. Is it daddy kink? Do you get off on rough play like your friend? Or is a big, muscular guy more your speed? I can tell that he certainly likes you and what you’ve got.”

How was Eliot just letting all this roll off his back? Even Nate was starting to have a bit of trouble controlling his reaction to her taunts. She took a step toward Eliot though. Maybe this was his play.

“I bet the one next to you would love it if you let him tie you up.”

Shit, she was pointing at him. Nate took another deep breath. Another step forward.

“Would you be the dom or the submissive in that relationship?”

Fuck, he had never thought about Eliot in that way. Sophie, sure. Not that he’d ever asked her before.

“Would you let him beat you into submission?”

Another step closer.

“Or is it the younger one you want, tied up and ready for you?”

Two more steps and she might be in Eliot’s range.

“I bet he makes such delicious noises when you go down on him.”

Another step.

“Actually, he does,” Eliot calmly said right before his fist smashed into her face, gun clattering to the floor.

And of course, that was when Sophie and Parker showed up to rescue them.

“We can come back later,” Parker quipped.

Sophie’s eyebrows shot up at the scene before her. Both Nate and Hardison snatched up an article of clothing to cover themselves as Eliot kicked the gun away so that the mark couldn’t grab it again.

This was one job that they all would like to forget.

“Need someone to take care of that?” Sophie asked as Nate slipped on his clothes.

“Sophie,” he warned.

“I’m talking about the gun, you ass.”

Hardison had his arms crossed over his now clothed body, while Eliot was still pulling on his shirt and shoes.

Nate had realized what was going on with his body even though his mind was telling himself, willing himself not to respond to her. Unfortunately, he did respond to what she was saying. Hardison had no luck whatsoever stopping it. Eliot did not seem to care what everyone saw and what he said. 

“Impressive,” Parker blurted out.

“Parker,” Hardison screeched.

“Idiot. I’m talking about the punch. Eliot took her down with one punch.”

“I don’t like hitting women.”

“Well, she deserved it, nonetheless,” Sophie added.

The next few days at the office were awkward at best. None of them could look at each other in the eyes, going about their days passing by, but never making direct eye contact. Both Parker and Sophie would sometimes smirk but didn’t mention the scene they’d found during their rescue.

Nate had basically ignored the situation but in the back of his mind, the mark had played them like a fiddle. And the aftereffects were dramatic. Hardison was still twitchy, looking around at everyone like he was reliving what had happened in his mind constantly. Eliot was quieter than normal, almost shy with the rest of them. He also wasn’t grunting and complaining about Hardison as usual. 

Nate never wanted to be involved in any of their private lives. He usually ignored all the signs of any sort of relationship that any of them had with others outside the group or internally. Made it less complicated all around if he just kept it more business-like instead of asking if any of them needed anything. 

“So, are you going to talk to them, or shall I?” Sophie asked as he poured his fifth coffee of the day, his second one that was more than just coffee. He had to have something to fortify him to get through the rest of the day.

“Talk to them about what?” Nate replied, trying to be nonchalant.

“Oh my. You really think I buy your ‘I’m not affected by what was said in that room’ scenario? Nate, all of you were down to nothing. Two of you were shall I say, starting to be affected by what the mark was saying.”

“We were compromised. That’s all.”

“And there were a few things said that must have triggered….”

“Nothing was triggered. She was trying to push our buttons.”

“Nate, the five of us live in each other’s pockets daily. There’s bound to be feelings, fantasies, whatnot.”

She just would not let it drop, Nate thought. Instead of walking away, he decided to see how she would react if he told her one of his fantasies.

Putting his coffee cup down, he approached her slowly. He could tell that by his body language, she was intrigued by what he was going to do.

“You know, fantasies are a manifestation of…”

“No mumbo jumbo, Soph. You seem to think that we can’t seem to control how we feel.”

Crowding her up against the counter in the kitchen, he watched as her pupils widened, how her breath sped up, how she arched her back just slightly as he leaned into her.

“What are your fantasies, Sophie?”

“We’re not, we weren’t speaking about me. I mean…”

“You mean, a beautiful woman stands in front of you and you don’t think I can’t respond?”

“You thought she was beautiful?”

Oh, now jealousy was rearing its ugly head. “Well, you said it, not me.”

He watched as she swallowed hard, how one of her legs moved to steady her leaning against the countertop. As he looked down just slightly, he saw the curve of her breast and just a hint of color blossoming. He’d never seen Sophie blush before. Blushing usually didn’t display on her face the way it did on him. Interesting.

“I do know one thing,” Nate said as his face was parallel with hers. “Fantasies are just that. Never to be acted upon, never to see the light of day.”

Sophie never seemed to be the kind of woman to play coy, but as she bit her bottom lip, as her breathing increased, he wondered how many times she’d done this with one of her marks. Probably not very often. It would make her vulnerable. Right now, she seemed vulnerable.

“I think that you’re wrong, Nate. My fantasies always come true.”

Touché. Instead of finally closing that gap between the two of them, he pulled back, acting as nothing had happened.

“Yeah, well. Whatever.”

The look of anger on her face was unmistakable.

Parker wondered why Hardison had been standoffish since the “incident” with the latest mark. Any time she got close to him, he’d scurry off to another part of the room or out the door. Was he embarrassed? She never understood why people got embarrassed by being naked. Body parts were body parts. At least Eliot didn’t seem to be affected. 

Coming up behind him in the kitchen, he whirled around when he realized she was at the refrigerator. Reaching up in the cabinet directly beside it, she pulled down her cereal. He sighed in relief, grabbing his bottle of soda to exit quickly.

“You know, you don’t have anything to be embarrassed about.”

“You, well, you see here, I’m not embarrassed at all. Busy. Just very busy.”

“Hardison, you’re fine. I mean, you look fine.”

Hardison grinned a little, then stood up straight.

“Hey, I’m not a prude,” he announced.

“I didn’t say you were. I mean, you looked good. So did Eliot.”

“Oh, so you looked at Eliot too.”

Parker rolled her eyes. “Kinda hard not to since he was standing right there, taking down the mark. Are you jealous?”

“No. Why would I be jealous?”

“Because you’re standing there, squeezing that bottle so tight it’s going to pop at any moment.”

Hardison let up on his grip, slowly putting the plastic down on the counter.

“She was sayin’ some stuff is all. Then Eliot was punching and well, whatever.”

“It’s ok. I think it’s kinda hot when Eliot punches stuff too.”

Hardison accidentally knocked over his soda to the floor with a flourish.

“He ain’t hot. I mean, that has nothing to do with anything. It was just the cool breeze and bein’ naked,” Hardison choked out the last few words.

“We should be naked more often.”

Hardison shook his head at her, finally opening the top to his soda bottle. She sort of wanted to warn him before the next sentence, but she wanted to gauge what he would do, so she just kept going, trying to get a rise out of him.

“I could tell that you and Nate were pretty excited by what she said.”

Orange soda literally coated the counter and the floor and possibly the doors to the cabinets as he opened the now shook up bottle.

“Parker, it wasn’t like that.”

Parker chose that moment to look down at this waistline. “Uh huh.”

There was more space than usual between the three men when they sat down at the counter to hear Hardison’s latest briefing on their next case. Parker and Sophie were the last to sit down, so they took the seats between each of the men. 

As Hardison went through all the information they needed to know, Sophie kept looking back and forth between them. Eliot was too controlled like nothing was wrong, but everything was wrong at the same time. He thought he was being guarded, but Sophie knew him better. Nate kept shuffling papers back and forth, barely looking at what Hardison had prepared on the screen. Hardison kept stumbling over what he was saying, having to back up and start again several times. Neither Eliot nor Nate called him out on it.

Once Hardison finished his “lecture” as Eliot liked to call it sometimes, Sophie grabbed his remote and shut the screen off.

“Sophie, you have something to add?” Nate asked as he started to get up from his seat.

“This is not gonna work,” Parker replied. “Just because a mark made your strip.”

“It’s not that,” Eliot complained.

“What?” Hardison exclaimed.

Nate just shook his head no.

“So, she questioned your manhood,” Parker pointed out as she got up to join Sophie on the other side of the table.

“There was no questioning of manhood,” Hardison told the women.

“Well, just a little, Hardison,” Eliot said as he smirked a little.

“We’re not having this conversation,” Nate said as he gathered his papers together into his file folder.

“But we are. We are not burying this until it festers and one of us goes off, compromising the rest of the team.”

“Sophie, it was nothing. The mark didn’t get handsy. She just mouthed off. That’s all.”

“Ok, but what if she had gotten handsy,” Parker said as she used air-quotes on the word handsy.

“Then we would have dealt with it,” Eliot said as he started to get up from the table, looking as if he wanted to join Nate in abandoning Sophie’s questioning.

“So, what did she say? Did she humiliate you? Listen, as humans, we are predisposed to not like our bodies…”

All three men started to talk at once, so Sophie had no idea what any of them was saying. If she heard right, Eliot denied not liking his body, Hardison was literally telling them that he didn’t like this line of questioning while Nate was trying to figure a way out of her psychoanalyzing the whole situation. Putting her hand up, she was finally able to quieten them all down until they all shut up. And the fact that Parker just whistled between her two fingers very loudly.

“It had nothing to do with not liking how we look,” Nate pointed out, standing with his arms crossed and leaning into the side of the table.

“Oh, then she must have been talking about sex then,” Parker blurted out.

Hardison looked up at the ceiling, shaking his head. Eliot closed his eyes, putting his hands on the counter in front of him.

“No, Parker, that’s not…”

Parker was probably right, even with Eliot denying what was said.

“Here, let me show you.”

Two clicks and Parker had the feed up from the warehouse.

“What?” Hardison exclaimed.

“The feeds weren’t down. How do you think we found you?”

Parker was right. They had seen the beginning of the mark drawing her gun, recognizing the warehouse immediately. It had taken them fifteen minutes to get in the car and find them. The team had been lucky they weren’t far away. Eventually, Eliot would have gone for that gun, clothed or not.

“Ok, see. Here you’re all stripping. Oh, there’s audio too.”

“I bet pretty boy is a virgin.”

Sophie watched as Hardison sputtered on the camera.

“What? You…”

“He stutters, wants to make sure his friends think he’s been around the block a few times. I wonder why. Oh, and military man. I bet you’ve been around the block plenty of times, both ways. Am I right?”

“And you?” She pointed directly at Nate now. “Like it rough?”

“Wanna find out?” he shot back.

Sophie could see Nate get even tenser as the exchange went on, both then and now.

“I bet you also like to watch.”

Nate even flinched both on camera and now. Was that telling that he thought what she said was true or was he disgusted?

“You’re sick,” Hardison commented.

“Seems like pretty boy likes what I’m talking about.”

Hardison put his hand over his mouth, like he wanted to finally say something, but knew it might be better to let the scene play out.

“Oh, military man. You seem to be unflappable. I wonder what your kink is. Is it daddy kink? Do you get off on rough play like your friend? Or is a big, muscular guy more your speed? I can tell that he certainly likes you and what you’ve got.”

Sophie could tell that Eliot was getting angrier by the second.

“I bet the one next to you would love it if you let him tie you up.”

Nate started to tap on the counter. He was probably itching for another drink.

“Would you be the dom or the submissive in that relationship?”

Oh my, Sophie thought. Did any of them think that’s what the others wanted? Was this why both Nate and Eliot looked the other way, not anywhere near the other. Hardison had already dropped his head so that he didn’t have to look at the screen any longer.

“Would you let him beat you into submission?”

Nate tensed up so hard it was like someone was taking a swing at him.

“Or is it the younger one you want, tied up and ready for you?”

Hardison shook his head a little back and forth, still not looking directly at the screen.

“I bet he makes such delicious noises when you go down on him.”

“Actually, he does,” Eliot calmly said right before his fist smashed into her face, gun clattering to the floor.

Parker’s eyes flashed wide, her mouth formed an ohhhh sound, but nothing came out.

“Are we done?” Nate finally said.

“Remember what you said Nate. Fantasies are just that. Never to be acted upon, never to see the light of day.”

“You know, if you guys want to have an orgy, Sophie and I will…”

At that crazy idea, all three men shouted no at the same time, gathered their things and going their separate ways. Sophie hadn’t moved, although Parker decided to sit down in her seat.

“Well, that went about as well as could be expected.”

“And they think that women are emotional,” Parker said as she shut off the system.

There was something else about this, Sophie thought.

“It’s not just fantasy, Parker. I think they all were just a bit traumatized, don’t you think?”

“I guess if I was made to strip, had my womanhood tested and was called out on every fantasy that might be going through my head, then maybe. I dunno.”

Parker was right. The mark had hit the nail on the head. When Nate had told her that fantasies needed to stay exactly where they needed to stay, in the person’s mind, never to see the light of day, then maybe there was some truth to what she was saying.

“Wait, wait a minute. Uh oh. What Eliot said at the end? Oh my,” Parker concluded. “I don’t think that was fantasy.”

Instead of helping Sophie figure out how to fix this, Parker stormed out of the office too, coat in hand.

Oh, my indeed. And here Sophie thought that she and Hardison had started a relationship when all along it had been Eliot and Hardison. And Nate was having fantasies of bondage, but with whom? Possibly Eliot? Or her? Or both? Too much to unpack without more information. Eventually, this all would have come to a head anyway. Or the men would have buried it so deep, it never would have seen the light of day ever again.

“I’m sorry, Parker.”

“For?”

“What I said.”

“It’s true then?”

“Well, I…”

“I understand.”

Parker had been sitting on the edge of the building, coat dangling from her hands. The air had turned chilly, more so on the top of a four-story building with a storm approaching from the north. If they didn’t seek shelter soon, they’d both be drenched.

Eliot knew he’d hurt her. He could tell by the rigidness of her body that she never knew that he and Hardison were involved. 

“You know, you could have told me. Both of you. I feel like such a fool.”

“He likes you, Parker. I mean, like likes you. Like I want to date you like you. I do too.”

Parker’s head whipped around to look at him. He could see the tracks where she had been crying.

“What?”

Eliot crouched down to her level. He was hoping that she’d get away from the edge of the building, just in case she slipped or attempted to throw him off. She was just that strong. He might let her because he hated that she was hurting. It was his fault she was crying.

“He said he wanted pretzels. And he’s already had pretzels with you.”

“He does. He has. He wants pretzels with you. If you mean what I think you mean.”

“Do you want pretzels with me too?”

Of course, he did. He never wanted to push her into anything that she didn’t want to do. But it seemed that Hardison and Parker’s relationship was the most important thing. It didn’t matter to him other than he wanted the two of them to be happy, whether eventually they wanted him to join or not.

“I, um, well, it’s complicated. Possibly? I just didn’t know how you’d react.”

Before he could move, Parker grabbed him by the edges of his jacket and pulled him to her. Was she now going to throw him off the building? Served him right if she did. Instead, she devoured him, kissing him like at that very minute if she didn’t, she’d never get to do it again.

“Oh, I thought she was gonna throw you off the building there for a minute.”

Eliot thought he had heard the door to the roof open. He just hoped that it wasn’t Sophie, ready to lecture them again about opening up regarding their feelings or some other bullshit she spouted sometimes.

“Ha,” Parker answered as she clamored up from her seated position. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t know that Eliot wanted to continue. Hey, we’re friends first. Got it? It’s just, it’s…”

“Complicated,” Parker finished for Hardison. “Yeah, like we don’t do complicated every day. What I want to know is who’s the dom and who’s the sub?”

“What?”

“Parker? She was just feeding you shit, you know that. Trying to get a rise out of Nate.”

Parker grinned. “It worked.” Parker’s eyes widened. “It really worked.”

“Hey, hey. Let’s not talk about ‘that’ kind of thing, alright?”

Hardison again feeling uncomfortable talking about sex. The two of them would have to fix that for Hardison.

“You know, you should have said something.”

Nate sighed as he looked down at the book he was holding. It wasn’t like he was getting anywhere with it as it was. Too many things running through his mind and the alcohol was not helping one bit.

“Something?”

“Fantasies?”

“Sophie, she was trying to get a rise out of all of us, to distract us. Make us pay for what we did to her.”

Sophie looked down at his middle section.

“So, you got a hard-on thinking about tying Eliot up and beating him?”

“No,” Nate vehemently said, tossing his book down on the floor. “It had nothing to do with any of that. The fact that she was poking at all of us, taking the control away from us.”

“From you, you mean. You had it all under control until you didn’t. Oh my. Now I’ve figured out what’s going on in that big brain of yours.”

Uh oh, Nate thought. Where Sophie’s brain would go had started to worry him when she walked into his room. Now he was beginning to be downright terrified.

“And where is that?” he said, trying to keep the tremor out of his voice.

“It’s all about control with you. You want to give up that control. You were afraid she was going to mention that, weren’t you? It’s not that you wanted to beat Eliot into submission, it’s the other way around. She said you liked it rough.”

Instead of opposing what Sophie was saying, Nate just put his hands out in front of him, like a stop sign. It’s the least he could do.

“No, no. It’s not like that.”

“Oh, it’s like that. So where are the handcuffs.”

It was like a predator and its prey. And he was the prey.

“We, I, maybe Sophie, we can discuss…”

“Nothing to discuss,” Sophie said, voice getting deeper. “Knees, now.”

Sophie’s hands were now on her hips, the stance she had adopted scaring him down to his toes. “Yes, ma’am.” And making him hornier than hell.


End file.
